Dublin at the double

On Saturday evening, we make a welcome and fairly speedy return to the fantastic 3Arena in Dublin, a venue where we found ourselves spellbound by the incredible atmosphere when we were there in March.

The star turn on that magnificent mid-March evening was undoubtedly Dublin’s very own Pierce O’Leary, who captured the IBO world super lightweight title with a pretty brutal drubbing of Maxi Hughes. He was the main man the fans came out to see and the support he enjoyed was captivating stuff.

And it wasn’t even the cracking fight we intended for him! Mark Chamberlain was forced to withdraw due to illness and Maxi came in at fairly short notice. Such was the reaction to the Chamberlain fight announcement, along with our confidence in it being a thriller, it was not a fight we wanted to let pass us by.

So as soon as Mark completed his recovery, we set about making it happen.

Fights don’t happen on paper, but if they did, you can rubber-stamp this one as a sure-fire barnstormer! It is a collision between two young, quality fighters, with huge ability and enormous punch power. There is nothing not to like about this one and I predict the decibel level inside the arena will be even higher for Pierce this time around.

Pierce proved true to his word when he was imploring us to restore Dublin as a home for major events again. He wasn’t shy in telling us how popular he is and the place sold out in short time! It is perfect, from a promotional point of view, to have a natural headliner in such a brilliant destination as Dublin.

Now, armed with his IBO world title, Pierce is going places, but Mark will have his own say on this matter, I am sure.

We are in the process of building something very special in Dublin that will see us make return visits for many years to come. In Adam Olaniyan and Bobbi Flood, we have two of the most exceptional former amateurs and promising young professionals in world boxing.

These two will proudly carry the Irish flag into major world title fights, I am certain of this.

We also have a major talent in Steven Cairns from Cork now in title territory and having just his second 10 round fight tonight against fellow Irishman Senan Kelly, plus another all-Irish battle between Gary Cully and Lee Reeves, where I am sure both fights will deliver the goods.

The Irish fans also get to see a high quality English fight, with our elite young talent Royston Barney-Smith taking on the battle-hardened Reece Bellotti for the IBO Intercontinental title at super featherweight, while Northampton super welterweight Ben Fail takes on an Irish test in Craig O’Brien.

It promises to be a very special night. Don’t miss out by tuning into DAZN from 7pm.